This is not the way I had hoped to kick off the blog for this amazing one year in southern India......I am sad to report that Bangalore was hit by bomb explosions today..... even more unfortunate that this happens sometimes in Indian cities... but the first time in Bangalore.

It was surreal -- and very sad. I was commuting back from the police commissioner where we officially register as foreigners. I was celebrating that all documents required were turn in and I was cleared.... I debated how to return to my hotel.... a walk through leafy Cubbon Park or a rickshaw ride through the crowded Bangkok-like streets.... I decided to go for the ride and had no idea bombs were going off in sections of town I was not far from. My students were also in the city and we almost sent them out there to cover the story but they don't have their credentials just yet as classes begin on Monday (so they returned to campus).

Feeling full blown weltsmertz and hoping that the aftershock of the blasts will not rock the relatively healthy relationship and balance between religious groups here. More soon.....